I live in a medium size town, and even though we are not a hotbed of touring activity, I've always had a rule about not seeing local ladies to avoid situations where either I get to the hotel and end up knowing the lady or where I could run into the lady around town.  It'[s not a big town, and I just don't need the added risk of locals knowing my hobbying activities.  Well, we were having a particularly bad touring dry spell, and the little head won out.  I made a date with a lovely local young lady.  Fast forward a few months, and Mrs. MF wants to try the hot new restaurant that opened up.   So I make a reservation, and we get to the restaurant and get seated.  Guess who our waitress is....

The “lady” you saw feels the same as you - she doesn’t want her secret out. Maybe she recognized you and played it cool, maybe she didn’t recognize you.

In the Bay area a lot of people see local providers and it's not a problem. Like the post before mention your secret is also theirs. If they're professional about it you have nothing to worry about. If you're with someone they wont really interact with one. Seen a provider at a market before and since i was with someone we just smiled at each other being discreet so my SO didn't see and just went our separate ways.

I live in a town of 75K people.  I see two locals here and never ran into them in public.  Not saying it cannot happen, but has not thus far.

I've run into local escorts and strippers several times whenever I am in the downtown area with my SO. Every time each has offered a sly smile and moved on. They don't want to be outed any more than we mongers do.

A city with 1.3 million people and I've still had it happen. But I'm also single so I don't care

This happened early on in my Hobby Life.  There was a famous hotel in town that was a haven for ladies, albeit it eventually closed.  All I had to do was go to the bar…Long story short….I met a young lady staying there and we had several encounters up in her room. About 3 months later the Hotel shut down.  And a few months after that I ran into this young lady who informed me she had moved about 3 hours away, and was working at a Massage Parlor.  She asked me to hit her up if I ever passed through.  

I generally do not, but it's more out of happenstance than a rule.  

but beware of what happened to me once.

Hahahahaha

The fairer sex is much more adept at hiding affairs, compared to guys.  You could bump into her at church and not worry about her giving away any clues.

Like others have already responded here, I believe that if she did recognize and/or remember you at the restaurant, it was most likely her professionaism that came into play here. (Lol, either way, you owe her another session for playing her part so smoothly, she deserves congratulations. It might make for great laughs)

I live in a big metro area so the odds are low, but I have run into a provider in public who had not yet crossed into the friends-in-public category. We both just gave each other a brief smile, and chatted about it the next time we saw each other privately.  

Two instances:

In order to avoid embarrassing moments such as that, I always wear a mask. Even before Covid, I wore a mask when out in public ... a Mickey Mouse mask.  

Saw an out of town woman at a hotel locally; and saw her with her SO the next day at the local Panera. I don't think she recognized me. I try to not see anyone locally close to were I live, living in a metro of 1 million plus I can tend to make that happen.

My former ATF (she moved on with life, great for her!!) was a local gal, decent sized metro area I work and play in. We were friendly enough we knew each others real names and had exchanged real world phone numbers, saw her for a couple years very regularly. My work schedule was all over the place at the time so if I saw I would have some free time later that day I’d send a quick text and she would do tbe same to me if she had a free evening , Something innocent that could be blown off as a wrong number if anyone else saw it to start the conversation. So for me the joy  of having a local go to gal was a no brainer. We both had agreed if we ran into eachother in public just to ignore each other as neither of us wanted drama in our personal lives. The short notice “dates” was an awesome perk, and we had amazing chemistry together physically. No illusion on my end I’m sure if tried to book without paying she’d have told me to get lost. All folks gotta do is use some common sense in this play land and things will usually go smooth.

It's only happened to me. a few times.  Each time, the lady and I made eye contact for a millisecond and then turned our gaze elsewhere.  And that was the end of it.

I don’t understand the big concern about seeing a “local” lady.  I regularly saw a lady who lived 6 minutes from me… I appreciated the convenience.  She eventually retired from the business and is now my girlfriend.
Also saw a lady who lived in my neighborhood .., just didn’t realize it until we met, and I realized I’d seen her at the local grocery store.  I was honest with her about it, and we both laughed and proceeded to tell each other exactly which houses we both lived in and what we both knew regarding neighborhood gossip.  She was totally cool, so I was as well… not a problem at all.

Discretion is a must I care about privacy because I respect everyone’s personal life. The World is our playground, so running into anyone is possible. Professional courtesy smile & say nada in public.

If I've frequented a provider often enough that I think she'd even recognize me in public I always tell them if we run into each other they can always come say hi but also that I'll never approach them in public. This way they know I will respect their boundaries without even knowing what they are. Same with any other otc interactions, I will never invite a provider to come hang out but let them know they can always hit me up if they want to. OTC trips, same thing, I let them know they're welcome but I won't actually invite them. It's worked out well for me.